Thanks for the Memories
by Catch23North
Summary: Committed to the insane asylum on the planet Torqulon by his own troops, Galvatron ends up with Optimus Prime for a cellmate. ...But is the former Autobot leader a hallucination, a ghost, or the dirtiest secret of Rodimus Prime? OP/Galvatron.
1. Chapter 1

This is based on the third-season ep, 'Webworld'. Basically, the Decepticons (prompted by the clever and self-serving Quintessons) decide to get Galvatron some long overdue psychiatric help. In the canon episode, Galvatron uses his own madness to defeat his Torqulon therapists, lays waste to their planet, and goes right back to leading the Decepticons.

-He even seems to forgive his second-in-command Cyclonus for trying to have him committed, though this may have had more to do with the planetary devastation putting Galvatron in a good mood than anything else.

In THIS story, the Torqulons decide on a more cautious approach to Galvatron's therapeutic care, and thus my story begins...

* * *

Thanks for the Memories

_Now since our breakup I wake up  
Alone on a gray morning-after  
I long for the sound of your laughter  
And then I see the laugh's on me_

.

Chapter 1.

.

"CCCYYYCCCLLLOOONNNUUUSSSSS!! I WILL DESTROY YOU FOR THIS!! I WILL SEE YOUR OPTICS BURN! I WILL RIP OUT YOUR BOLTS ONE BY ONE AND CHOKE YOU WITH THEM!! I WILL-"

Cyclonus sighed uncomfortably, arms folded across his chest plate.

"Is there no hope of curing him?" Cyclonus asked the Torqulon standing nearest.

"We will certainly try, but this is a very advanced case..." the monkey-like therapist replied, doubtfully.

"Galvatron..." Cyclonus said, softly.

"Come on," Scourge suggested, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, "-we should be getting back to Charr. We will have work to do, if our leader is to have an army left to command when he finally IS cured..."

"-TRAITOROUS SLARGS! GET BACK HERE AND RELEASE ME!! I, GALVATRON, COMMAND YOOOUUUUUU!!" Galvatron roared, from inside his web-spun cell.

Cyclonus gave his leader a sorrowful backwards glance, then followed Scourge and his three winged horrors up into the sky.

* * *

Nanoclicks passed.

Breems passed.

Cycles passed.

Planetary night had long since set over the flat plains of Torqulon.

Galvatron finally stopped yelling and stood there staring at the empty, star-filled void, his powerful frame still shaking with rage.

He sat down abruptly, and the trembling stilled to an eerie quiet. Galvatron retreated within himself to consider his options and chances for escape from this pathetic dirtball of a planet.

In his earlier rage, he'd tried every strand of sticky purple webbing, every dark spine of cage-material, even blown the floor into soft loan trying to claw his way through the tightly-woven bottom.

Nothing.

Every strand of cage-webbing he managed to break replaced itself from somewhere deep beneath the ground, well out of his reach.

Well, they would pay for it, Galvatron decided grimly.

He acted. He raged. He tried every sticky strand of the cell many times over. He attempted to trick his Torqulon captors, pretended to be sane, and offered them promises of great power.

The Torqulons had heard it all before. They spoke to him kindly, used their null-rays when they had to, and took patient notes.

* * *

Hands stuck fast in the gummy webbing of his cell bars, Galvatron dreamed.

He was fighting Optimus Prime at the dam, axe to flail. He was himself again, and strong. Galvatron remembered something a Torqulon had prattled to him about 'visualizing his own recovery', and snarled softly without waking.

This was the best dream he'd had in a while, and he wasn't ABOUT to let one of those hairy, simpering fools ruin it for him...

When Galvatron awoke from recharge that morning, Prime was there. He was sitting on the other side of the cell with his back to the sticky bars. Galvatron was frozen for a split second, hot, glorious hatred and rapturous joy at finally having a problem he could DO SOMETHING about washing over his tortured mind in fairly even parts.

"PRIME!" he cried, launching himself the pitifully short distance across the cell at his long-time enemy with a maniac grin on his face.

Standing well out of reach as the bars shook, two Torqulons stared at their crazed purple and gray patient, and exchanged a worried glance. One of them dropped Galvatron with a well-aimed shot from his null-ray before the unbalanced mech could do any more damage.

* * *

One blue eye glowed in the darkness, not twenty feet away. -The other must still be broken, Galvatron thought, with some satisfaction. Galvatron stirred, commanding his sluggish, reawakening limbs to move. He had to get up. To recover the dignity the Torqulons were trying to take from him...

"So Optimus Prime, still getting monkeys to do your dirty work, I see," Galvatron sneered, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

Prime shrugged disgustedly.

"Ravage got your tongue?" Galvatron asked, his smile widening.

Prime snorted. It was a sort of stifled backfire through the exhaust pipes mounted on either shoulder, and with a start, Galvatron realized that Prime was trying not laugh.

"So," Prime began, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back against the webbing, "-what are you in for?"

.

* * *

"It won't work, you know."

"What?" Prime asked, looking out through the bars with his back to Galvatron.

"Trying to drive me insane. I know what you are, and you don't frighten me."

"What do you mean?"

"You're a ghost. I've dealt with ghosts within the ranks of the Decepticons, and I KNOW I killed you," said Galvatron.

"You 'know' you killed me, do you? Well then who was it that forced you to retreat from the crypt when you came for Rodimus and the others? I know who it was you THINK you didn't see, because I was THERE, Megatron-"

"MY NAME IS GALVATRON!!" the disturbed Decepticon leader screamed.

"No it's not," Prime said quietly.

"You know me as Megatron because you're DEAD, you fool!"

"Am I?" Prime challenged, turning. "Did you actually see my spark go out, or did you just believe what the Autobots told you?"

Galvatron choked, staring at his long-time enemy speechless.

"They- TRICKED me?!" Galvatron ground out, finally.

"It's not that simple," Prime sighed, "You damaged me all right, and I was on the POINT of deactivation... I passed the Autobot Matrix of Leadership on to Rodimus Prime, and I fell into stasis-lock. When I came to, everything was different... and Rodimus would not surrender the Matrix back to me. I am sorry to say that his desire for power led him to have me committed here, to get me out of the way. -He's not evil, but there is a reason the Matrix is only passed from an old leader to a new one on the point of death. To give up the Matrix otherwise is- -unthinkable." Galvatron caught a slight growl in Prime's voice as he pronounced the last word.

"So what you're saying is, Rodimus did to YOU what Starscream always swore he'd do to ME," Galvatron laughed, entertained beyond his most fevered hopes.

"...Yes," Prime agreed, looking back out through the bars, "-I must be admit though, my first attempt to reclaim the Matrix could have been... misinterpreted."

"Hmn..." Galvatron nodded, knowingly.

* * *

Solar cycles came and went. The Torqulons changed shifts and wrote stuff down.

Prime brooded, and stared up at the stars a lot.

Galvatron attacked him whenever the Torqulon therapists had their tails turned, and Prime gave as good as he got.

It was about mass. The sheer strength and weight of metal on BOTH sides was terrifying, and Galvatron grew to relish the fearful reactions of the monkeys watching from outside their cell as much as the boom of his own fist denting Prime's red armor.

Gradually, Galvatron formed a plan.

* * *

"How would you like to get out of here, Prime?"

"Would I ever," Prime agreed, warily.

"I have a plan," Galvatron purred, "-would you like to hear it?"

"Shoot," said Prime, wryly.

"That's just it, my gun would still fire if it had a good enough power source... like you, for example."

"And leave you free to go, and me too weak to follow? Not on your energon pump, Megatron."

"But I would rather have YOU in command of the Autobots than that insolent Rodimus... -think- Prime, I could HELP you with that," Galvatron coaxed.

"Another Decepticon trick. I'll tell you what Megatron, why don't YOU use your life force to blast us a way out of here and I'LL carry YOU when you run out of power?"

"Ah but Prime, you can't fly..."

"And YOU can't be trusted," Prime said matter-of-factly, "-if anyone should know that, it's ME."

"So here we rust," Galvatron spat, "-you're even more helpless without your precious Matrix than I thought..."

* * *

Darkness lay over the surface of Torqulon like a heavy cloud, and even the bright gas giant two systems away wasn't facing them.

Galvatron felt a hand press down over his mouth, woke out of recharge instantly, and slammed the front of his helm into what he hoped was Prime's faceplate.

A muffled grunt rewarded him, but then a pair of large hands pinned Galvatron's arms down, pressing his elbow joints into the hard-packed dirt. The rear sight on his back dug into the ground like the end of a pickaxe. Galvatron felt an exhalation against his face from the dual cooling fans on either side of Prime's helmet. He smelled dust, hot oil, and that resin-core solder that Humans liked to use...

"BE. -Quiet-." Prime rumbled into his audio receptor.

"Or WHAT?" Galvatron hissed.

"...I'll get off and leave you alone..." Prime promised, nipping the side of Galvatron's chin.

"I was right," Galvatron crowed, smirking," I always KNEW you wanted a piece of me..."

"Wrong. I want you NOW, and I don't hear you complaining."

"-Doing a lot of justifying tonight, are we?" Galvatron smirked.

"Shut- -UP," Prime growled, the low rumble of the powerful diesel engine in his chest vibrating all the way down through Galvatron's frame. The Decepticon shuddered as his own cooling fans kicked on-

"No, please-" Galvatron snickered, "-what EVER will my troops think?"

"I don't -CARE-," Prime assured him, pressing a kiss against Galvatron's hard, pale lips. There was no response for a moment, only the taste of a frozen sneer, and the oddly welcoming sensation of Galvatron's lower lip. Then Galvatron tore his gun arm free and gripped the back of Prime's crested blue helmet to him, plundering the Autobot's mouth- -and those firm gray lips were just as lush as they looked- -with a hunger that had waited millennia.

* * *

Dawn came to Torqulon, and threw a basket-weave shadow across the two large mechs recharging in the middle of the cell floor.

Galvatron woke from the best recharge he'd had in over a stellar cycle, and became aware of the dead weight of Prime's left arm draped over him. They were lying face-to-face, and the big Autobot was actually -hugging- him.

It figured that Prime would be a cuddler.

Galvatron kept his optics offline, and drew back experimentally. Prime tightened his hold, and mumbled something that sounded vaguely possessive.

Galvatron raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, and studied the unconscious semi-truck's face.

What had that pink wand of an antenna said of Orion Pax...? Ah yes... 'he's the jealous type'. ...Prime still WAS, apparently.

And without the Matrix to channel that feeling into concern for his troops, what would that mean for HIM?

Galvatron wondered.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Chapter 2.

.

"Do you still have that weapon that throws circular saw blades?" Prime asked, examining one of the cell's upright bars.

"No, I do not," Galvatron admitted disgustedly.

Prime looked as if he was going to say something, then went back to his inspection of their cell without a word.

"WHAT?" Galvatron demanded, a touch of fang showing.

"Is that rebuild better than your old body in any way?"

"My OLD body had a few -dents- Prime," Galvatron snarled, "-perhaps you remember PUTTING them there?"

"Ah," Prime nodded once. "-So who rebuilt you?"

"Unicron, before his inevitable destruction."

"That explains a lot."

"Indeed..." Galvatron agreed, darkly.

"I kind of like it," Prime decided.

"WHAT?"

"I miss your old color scheme, but cylindrical limbs suit you. You look almost... organic."

"Your perverse fantasies are no concern of mine, Autobot."

"I mean it. You've got universal joints now, don't you? They make you more flexible. Harder to predict," Prime added.

"In comparison with you, -anyone- looks flexible," Galvatron snorted.

"Maybe, but it's always been one of your best strengths in battle. Remember the time we were fighting close up, and you pivoted halfway around from the waist so you were facing -backwards-?"

"I do. And I am -endlessly- amused to hear you say that."

Prime shrugged.

"Do you have ANY weapons besides being a gun?" Prime asked, getting to the point.

"None I can let you borrow, more's the pity..." Galvatron sniffed.

"Okay smart guy, you tell me. How DO we get out of here?"

"You see that pitiful excuse for a life form in the cell to your far right?" Galvatron pointed.

"Yes."

"I shoot him, then we escape while his screams of agony draw off our guards."

"Escape how?" Prime pointed out.

"I'M WORKING ON THAT!!"

.

* * *

"Tighten your focus," Prime ordered softly.

Galvatron adjusted the orange barrel of his laser canon, internal components sliding together perfectly. Prime's hands flexed around the grip, unconsciously bracing for the almighty recoil he knew his nemesis contained. His finger was on, but not quite -pressing- Galvatron's trigger.

"Just how out of practice ARE you?" Galvatron demanded, impatiently.

"Wait for it..." Prime murmured, drawing a bead on a small rock formation that was almost hidden by the planet's dusty haze.

He fired.

Galvatron preserved a memory of everyone who had ever fired him, from Starscream's accurate but too-hasty flair to Soundwave's ruthless, deliberately spaced-out shots.

Thundercracker had fired him because it was his job. Starscream had enjoyed how easy having the gun made winning. Soundwave had felt honored to fire his leader, and often added emotional lines like, 'prepare for oblivion' before pulling the trigger.

Galvatron had his own favorite however...

Prime's aim was nearly perfect, but at that extreme distance his tightened grip had skewed the shot, making Galvatron's thin violet beam scorch the upper right corner of his target instead of hitting it dead center.

"Better luck next time?" Galvatron said, smugly.

"Give me another charge," Prime said, unapologetically.

He held the gun upright as Galvatron built up the power for a second shot, running his thumb idly along the optical slide. The gun warmed against his hand.

Lying prone in the center of the cell floor, Prime brought Galvatron in close, resting his elbows on the ground for stability.

He aimed carefully, then raised his head and blew across the gun's rear sight without warning.

Galvatron fired.

Galvatron transformed into robot-mode, and drew back an armored foot to kick the grinning Autobot square in his side-panel.

Prime's arm lashed out, hooked Galvatron around the back of his other foot and pulled, dumping the enraged Decepticon on his retro-thrusters.

"YOU INSOLENT-"

"Relax. That shot was good," Prime assured him.

"PRIIIIIME...!"

.

* * *

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

"Galvatron, what's wrong?" Prime asked, backing up as much as the barred walls would allow.

"YOU'RE TRYING TO DRIVE ME INSANE! You Autobots aren't supposed to kill, so you're trying to get ME to do it FOR YOU!!" Galvatron hissed, aiming his arm-cannon at the base of Prime's throat.

"If I wanted to kill you, I'd do it with my bare hands."

"I KNEW YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL ME-!!" Galvatron screeched.

"I'M NOT TRYING TO KILL YOU!" Prime shouted back.

"S-STAY BACK! I KNOW YOU! YOUR TRICKS- YOU..."

Prime studied Galvatron's face, then folded his arms across his chest with a sigh.

"Fine. Have it your way." Prime turned away from his companion, and Galvatron promptly shot him in the back with a gleeful whoop.

Prime whipped back around to face him, heavy blue fists clenched and trembling.

"MEGATRON- GALVATRON- WHATEVER YOU'RE CALLING YOURSELF THIS CYCLE, I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY!"

"As your precious Humans would say... bullshit," Galvatron spat, "You're an Autobot. In fact, you're the Autobot whose madness INFECTED all the others!"

Prime lunged forward and punched Galvatron hard enough to knock the Decepticon back into the gummy cell bars on other side.

"I'M-NOT-CRAZY!" Prime thundered down at him, "I'm HERE because my friends PUT me in here!"

"That makes two of us then," Galvatron said dryly, picking himself out of the webbing, "-though you're an even bigger fool than you look if you still believe Rodimus is your friend."

Prime's head bowed, and slowly, he sank to his hands and knees.

"I won't give up on them, Galvatron. They made a mistake- I-I can't..." Prime's vocal processor froze up with a brief scratch of static, and his massive red shoulders began to shake.

Galvatron allowed himself an evil private smile, then knelt beside the distraught Autobot, and put his arms around him.

.

* * *

"One of those -monkeys- is watching us."

"So? They're trained psychiatrists, I think he can handle it..." Prime assured him, nuzzling the gray adjustable ring at the base of Galvatron's neck.

"I don't LIKE being watched," Galvatron declared, shoving Prime away from him.

A flicker of annoyance crossed the semi-truck's face.

"Think of it this way, Galvatron," Prime reasoned, "-I doubt he actually -wants- to watch."

"HIS pain is irrelevant," Galvatron sneered, "I don't perform such acts in front of lower life forms."

Prime stroked his chin thoughtfully. -He'd picked up the habit while he still wore his battle-visor full time, and hadn't seen fit change it.

"Hey, buddy!" he called over to the Torqulon. "Yes, you. Come over here for a breem."

The Torqulon looked surprised, and his expressive simian face showed doubt and concern. But he did come closer.

"What is it?" the psychiatrist asked, neutrally.

"Listen, I understand that watching us is your job, but can you do it from further away or something? You're making my friend here very uncomfortable."

"Your... friend is very violent," the Torqulon replied carefully, "-both for his own safety and that of the other patients, we can't leave him unmonitored."

"I'm not going anywhere," Prime pointed out.

"That is true, but you're here for a reason..." the Torqulon reminded him gently.

"We've been over and OVER this..." Prime sighed, "-I'm not actually insane, I'm just here because my second in command -thinks- I am."

"I remember when you were admitted, and though you've made progress since you've been here, you do still have some issues to work out. The disassociative identity thing, for example-"

"I've EXPLAINED the effects of Matrix withdrawal-" Prime began.

"No actually, you haven't," the Torqulon said sounding interested, "-would you like to talk about it?"

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, YOU BABBOON-FACED CRETIN!!" Galvatron yelled, his patience at an end.

"Was that really necessary?" Prime asked, when the Torqulon had retreated.

"It got him to leave, didn't it?" Galvatron pointed out, with a satisfied look.

Prime caught sight of the Torqulon using a cage fifty yards away for cover, but decided not to mention it.

.

* * *

"Hey."

"Greetings, Prime..." Galvatron purred. His red optics glowed down brightly, and gave the planes of Prime's face a soft ruby flush. The semi-truck reached up, and took the white band of Galvatron's waist in his hands. -With Galvatron straddling his lap, he could hardly miss.

Prime shifted his hold, and rubbed his thumbs inside the recess at the base of Galvatron's dark chest plate. The Decepticon hissed softly, and pressed a hand down hard on the louvers of Prime's white grill, bending them -just- enough.

Prime's engine roared, and he gripped Galvatron's wrist, stilling the motion.

Galvatron narrowed his optics, and smiled.

He curled his fingers, scraping over each white slat with a sharp metallic twang.

Prime rewarded Galvatron with a deep groan that resonated through his exhaust pipes. Galvatron could feel the cool night air sucking past his hand into the grill as the Autobot drew breath. He pressed his advantage, and reached back to open a side panel on Prime's bumper.

"Oh no you -don't-..." Prime growled, locking an arm around Galvatron and surging improbably to his feet. In two shuddering steps, he had his opponent pinned against the sticky cell bars. Galvatron's rear sight was tangled in the webbing, ensnaring him further.

Several thoughts passed through Galvatron's processor. The slightly incoherent, 'I'm about to be run over by a truck-' was first, followed by, 'no fair, Autobot scum!', and, 'if only I could turn this delicious strength to my advantage...'

"You're thinking too much," Prime smiled against Galvatron's audio receptor.

"So DO something about it," Galvatron shot back.

"As you wish..." Prime promised, and his blue optics glinted in the dark.

.

* * *

Galvatron awakened just before dawn, and sat with his back against Prime's recharging form. He had to think. To shake off this sweet languor in his servos and-

A distracting crackle of energy pulsed at his temples, and Galvatron clenched his fist.

He shouldn't be feeling this.

He was damaged. Hadn't they SAID he was damaged?

Prime was taking advantage of that, but any Decepticon warrior worth the energon he consumed would do the same, and wasn't it a victory for HIM that-

The crackling flared up again, and Galvatron stroked the tiny fractures in the metal on either side of his helmet curiously.

Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he'd gone into a stasis-lock deca-cycles ago, and Prime wasn't really there...

The thought hurt in a way that Galvatron couldn't name, and he half-turned to reassure himself that the unconscious Autobot was real. Prime frowned sleepily at his companion's sudden movement, and his blue fingers closed on nothing.

...No.

The feeling of constriction around Galvatron's chest components eased, and he cupped Prime's smooth, gray face in one hand, studying it approvingly.

...A delusion would never have been able to call over the Torqulon guard.

.

* * *

Notes: Yes, Galvatron can turn into a heavy-duty laser pistol in addition to his laser-howitzer mode. It's one of those really tiny details in his bio that didn't get used except in the comics.


End file.
